[Open] The Mark of the Herald

[thewatchers]

Mark of the Herald Part I
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Despite certain disruptive events and ominous visions in the preceding month, August is seemingly still free of any problems.

That’s quick to change, however. Starting from the third of the month, strange, circular marks begin to appear on human students around the school - and, indeed, humans around the world. Those affected begin to feel incurably drowsy, something that no magical or mundane solution can seem to cure or relieve; eventually, they’ll fall asleep entirely, whether they want to or not, and enter a state of magical stasis. Not even nonhumans are immune, though whether they’re marked seems to be much more erratic.

Those who remain awake or are otherwise spared by the mark are free to do as they wish - the Academy won’t ask them to do more than keep themselves safe. But where each marked person falls in slumber, a portal will form; a strange tear in reality, offering glimpses of a surreal, nightmarish plane that differs vastly from individual to individual. One thing is certain; the cause of a victim’s seemingly endless sleep and these portals are linked somehow, and the only way to find out exactly how is to go through...and the only ones capable of doing so are those who are still awake.

This log can be used as a catch-all for event-related threads. The information for this event is here.

Comments

[stavros]

[Kokoro follows with a smile.] Very well! If all else fails, we can still attempt to brute force it open.]

[hattersgonnahat]

Exactly!

I didn't get to try everything before, and now I have a lot more!

[And she's not alone, either.]

[stavros]

In that case, which way is it?

[She continues to follow, roof-hopping and looking around at the lonely, cold city.]

[hattersgonnahat]

Hm, it's this way! [She hops to the next roof on the right. If Kokoro can't keep up, they can always look for another way to get there.]

It's been awhile since I had any of these dreams! ...I didn't think I could get them anymore.

[It must've been because she was reading all those history books, probably.]

[stavros]

[Kokoro takes a deep breath and runs forward, using her whip to grab an outcropping and pull herself up to that roof.]

Might it relate to your search for Time Pieces, then?

[hattersgonnahat]

[Damn, that's just...really cool. She should learn how to do something like that with the umbrella sometime!]

It's gotta be! I did ask them what Time's End even was awhile ago.

[She had been trying to figure out where it used to be in the real world, since the building was probably long gone by now. Though it is possible it still exists!]

[That's why her table was covered in maps and history books of England.]

[--But that's right, she hadn't explained that part yet.]

Apparently it was a bookstore a few of them owned a long time ago. It was a normal bookstore but it was also a place they would hang out and talk. Sometimes even have meetings there at night!

I think one of them might've hid a Time Piece there.

[stavros]

I see. If it were a refuge and meeting place for them, surely your theory holds water. Yet you haven't found anything?

[hattersgonnahat]

Not yet, but I think I am really close! [She hadn't been searching for that long.]

I was gonna start looking after I got more clues, but in a way, this kind of better!

[Hops to another roof. Everything is still on track, other than still the occasional "glitching" of the scenery. Which is either something Puella can't see or is not bothering to address.]

...Unless I accidentally start dreaming of something else.

[C'mon, not dream self, stay focused!]

[stavros]

Finding clues in the depths of one's mind, then. The heart recalling what the mind does not. Something like that, anyway?

[Kokoro climbs onto the next roof, though she stumbles and avoids falling when the piece of roof in front of her briefly glitches out.]

[hattersgonnahat]

Sorta...It helped me before with finding where the Rift was! I could read the instructions because they were the same runes I learned from mum and dad.

But these sorts of memories were in the Time Piece too.

[She safely jumped off the roof and down into an alleyway. If the memory does serve, it was just around this corner...maybe.]

[stavros]

[Kokoro follows down the fire escape and after Puella.]

I should hope there aren't any monsters about; some of the other realms that opened up weren't so peaceful.

[hattersgonnahat]

Hm, I've never seen any before... Not in these sorts of dreams.

[Puella keeps walking down the sidewalk, where there was less snow. She was being a tad more careful though, the glitching was getting more frequent, severe. For microseconds orange lines of foreign text would flash, but it was gone before she had a chance to read it. ...This had happened before. It had happened the other time she tried going inside the bookstore. The thing that kept it locked.]

[...Speaking of which, there it is.] ...!

We found it!!

[stavros]

[Kokoro skids on a patch of ice and manages to stop behind her. She goes up and tries the door.]

How do you suppose we open it?

1/2

[hattersgonnahat]

[The door is locked. Very very locked indeed. In such a way a closed building would be.] Hmmm...

[Too bad the dream never mentioned anything about secret passages or what not.] We could try breaking the door?

2/2

[hattersgonnahat]

[Although, just as Puella said that.]

[More glitched writing appeared around the door and street corner. Runes. Their runes, presumably. This was just like last time. Alas, it was still impossible to read it.]

[stavros]

If you can't read this... hmm.

[Kokoro follows the writing around the corner.]

Perhaps there's another door?

[hattersgonnahat]

[Puella was also thinking it was best just to ignore it for now, even if it was distracting.]

[She walked forward and was about to say something as more letters appeared in front of her. Briefly scrambled, but finally, some of it managed to correct itself.]

[And it wasn't great.]

Something...Something's wrong.

[She stepped back to heed the warning, but it might have already been too late. There was something...here. They definitely weren't alone anymore.]

.̷̛̗̻̋͐͂̀̚̚.̸̩͊̈́͝.̷̳̠̜̤̠̘̩̭͍͔̔̓͒́̏R̶̝̗̔̆̈́̀ĩ̴̧̪̝͈̮̟̮̝̙͇̈ḟ̴̡̢̢̛͔̪̰͙̙̩͗̈́͋̈ẗ̷̻̜̬̙͔̱́̏͘͜.̵̨̖͓̘̩̰̝͚̈̓.̷̢̨͍̣͕̺̪̚.̴̢̘̤̳̫̫͇͐́̒̔̒w̸͈͙͙̬̫̯̩͗͛́̈́̅͘ͅǎ̸̡͚̠͉̫̟̹̖͐͆͐͆͘l̴̛̰͖͚̼̘͇͇͈̾̽̂̏̐̒̾̈́̓ͅǩ̵̡̢͔͈͚̠̰̜͂͛͊̉̆ͅẹ̷͈̤͙͐̈́̾̎̕r̵̬͒̏̂͝.̶͎̮̫͎̮̞͙̞̯̓̈́́͐̍̀̎̈́.̴̰̘̗̗̺͗̈̀̄̍͘͘͜͜͠͠.̴͓̗̦͈͈͗

[A voice echoed. A sound of many distorted voices actually, making it even harder to comprehend it as they all seem to overlap each other. The scene began to darken into nothingness, as something behind her was slithering across the ground. Out of sight, undetectable.]

I̶̡̢̧͖̬̘̋͠ ̸͕̗̰̪̖͕̦͇͐̾͆͗͠h̷̦̤̫̀̑̉͘a̶̳͙̦̻̝̯̎́͗̈͜v̴̡̱̼̩̫̖̞̳͂̕ĕ̵̺͓̺̎̌̿̓͝ ̴̛̤͈͔͙̺̭̽̀͋͌̂͑̓̄f̵͔̼̖͆̎͛̿ȏ̷̢̢̢̪͕̩͇͙͕ͅu̴͉̞̗͇̣̔̐́̐ń̷̖͕̥̞̾̊͊̑͊́͝d̷̢̧̡͙̼̲̝͔̳̄̆̈́́̔̌̃́͘ ̵̣̻̖͍̈́̀̔̾̈́̑͘̚͝y̵̦̩̻͐̂͊̇̓̀̾o̷͉̝̬͓͒͌u̸̫̣̰͋͛͛͊̈́͌̚!̶̧̡̢̭̯̟̬̝̗̒̑̓̾̌̀̕ͅ

[An oily, dark red and black substance flung itself at Puella to knock her over. It seemed inclined to keep her pinned down, while the rest of the shape still lingered in the darkness.]

[stavros]

Puella!

[Kokoro hurls a bottle of holy water at the substance, following up by lashing at it with the whip at her side.]

Whatever a rift-walker is, you will not have her or anyone else!

[hattersgonnahat]

[The water did not hurt the creature in any way, but it did dissolve some of whatever that sludge was, and giving Puella more of a chance to squirm free. Perhaps]

[The rest of the sludge was starting to take a shape. Just...a very misshapen shape, as it raises itself higher. Two eyes start to form at least.]

ơŋɛ ʂɬąŋɖʂ ცɛʂıɖɛ ყơų ŋơῳ, ąŋɖ ყơų ཞɛʄųʂɛ ɬơ ʂɛɛ? [The voice has gotten a bit easier to understand, at least. And it raises it's head more.] ơཞ ƈơųƖɖ ıɬ ცɛ ıɬʂ ƙɛყ ıʂ ɧıɖɖɛŋ?

[stavros]

[Why did she keep running into monsters that had some kind of immunity to holy water today? What is life? Kokoro scowls, attacking with the whip again to cut the goo creature down.]

I'm far more interested in what you are than what she is, creature!

[hattersgonnahat]

[The creature makes a loud hissing sound when the whip makes contact. If she truly wanted to get in the way, so be it.]

[It takes a large claw, about half the size of Kokoro, and swipes to knock her away. Though it had all the intention to do more damage than that.]

[Its form kept changing to something more distinct now, and vaguely canine in nature. But gigantic. Its 'fur' still had a very long, oily look to it, which made it difficult to determine if it still counted as fur or not. It was even hard to tell whether or not the aforementioned fur had also been drenched in something red too, or it was just actual markings. ...Honestly it might be better off not knowing one way or another.]

[It turned its gaze back to Puella and approached forward.] ყơų ɧą۷ɛ ცɛɛŋ ƈąƖƖɛɖ ʄơཞ, ƖıɬɬƖɛ ῳąƖƙɛཞ.

[Puella was almost halfway free when she froze in fear. If she could just get out now, she could go assist Kokoro and--]

[Unfortunately, the time was up once the daemon loomed over her.] ąŋɖ ῳɛ ƈąŋŋơɬ ཞıʂƙ ყơų ʄıŋɖıŋɠ ąŋɖ ɖɛʂɬཞơყıŋɠ ყơųཞ ƙɛყ.

...ƙɛɛ℘ ɖཞɛąɱıŋɠ, ıɬ ῳıƖƖ ცɛ ყơųཞ ɬıɱɛ ʂơơŋ. [Puella struggled ever harder to escape but suddenly all that strength got sapped away when the huge paw went over her. She felt heavy and unable to move. Not because of the weight but rather, something was lulling her into a trance-like state.]


[...Now, the only thing in the way was this other Hunter.]

[stavros]

Gk--!

[Kokoro gets knocked away and skids down the icy street. She picks herself up with a scowl and runs forward, keeping some distance between herself and the dog-thing. Reaching into her bag, she hurls a throwing axe in an arc up at its head.]

I know not how you've got an immunity to holy water, but that isn't all I have!

[hattersgonnahat]

[The water likely failed because the creature was merely a figment. The axe, on the other hand, did an excellent job of smacking it in the head, and gushed around some of that blood-like gunk appropriately. Despite the recoil and obvious pain though, the wound managed to heal itself back up rather quickly.]

ı ʂɧąƖƖ ŋơɬ Ɩɛɬ ყơų ɠɛɬ ıŋ ơųཞ ῳąყ. [The large wolf lunges at her. Having now succeed in its first objective, it is able to go all out. Quite a lot of formidable strength, and would be very challenging to defeat alone; especially when it could regenerate so fast. Could it be done?]

[Puella was still partially buried, under some kind of 'sleep' and dazed by it. She cannot wake up from it but perhaps every time the creature was hit, maybe, just maybe, that magic would weaken ever so slightly.]

[stavros]

You --

[She lashes out with her whip, aiming to snap it around the creature's neck and then use its momentum to smash it into the ground.]

-- are in ours!

[hattersgonnahat]

[Nope, they weren't going to fall for the whip again. So tempted to bite it and yank it forward, rip it into two if possible, however it was unlikely they would catch it.]

[A growl.] ıʄ ყơų ῳıʂɧ ɬơ ʄıɠɧɬ, ʂơ ცɛ ıɬ.

[The longer soaked fur sharpened, hardening to the point where it almost looked metallic and stabbed into the ground. From the cracks, more of that selfsame shadowy sludge bled out and rushed towards Kokoro. Attempting to pull her under similar to what it did to Puella.]